Manufacturers of hard
disk drives claim Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) of millions of
hours, which means the hard drives should work for more 100 hundred years.
Practically, hard drives fail after a few years or even earlier if
they are not handled properly or due to manufacturing defects. Since data recovery from a failed hard disk drive (HDD)
is expensive, it is advisable to take a few precautions to prevent
hard drive failures or problems

How to prevent having to fix it

1. Hard drives are mechanical
devices, so dropping a hard drive from a height or dropping any object on
the drive could damage it. The hard drive should always be handled
carefully

2. Use a good quality
uninterrupted power supply (UPS), so that there are no fluctuations and
spikes in the power supply to the hard drive electronics. Power spikes
could burn the electronic components of the hard drive.

3. Close all programs and shut
down windows or any other Operating system on your computer , before you
switch off the power supply to your computer.

4. Ensure that you have
sufficient memory (RAM), else the computer will use virtual memory from
the hard disk for many operations. This will increase the wear and tear of
your hard drive and reduce its life.

5. Do not touch the exposed
components on the hard drive, you could damage them. If the hard drive is
to be moved from one place to another, place it in an antistatic bag or
antistatic surface like a wooden table.

6. Dust and high humidity
increase the corrosion of the drive, so use silica gel bags

7. Defragment the hard
drive and run check disk often, to fix any logical errors.

8. Since electronic data is
stored on the magnetic surface of a hard drive, strong magnetic fields
caused by powerful magnets will affect the data on your hard drive. Ensure
that no one uses large magnets or magnetic toys in the vicinity of
your hard drive.

9. Due to wear and tear, it is
advisable to get a new hard disk after 2 years.